Being sent mystery packages in the post is intriguing. When an odd cardboard box arrived in the office, I took one look and then let people have a rummage through it. Cue lots of “ooohs” and “aaahs”. The good people at Ben Shaw’s sent me a box of their retro drinks, with flavours like Dandelion & Burdock, Cloudy Lemonade and Cream Soda. For the record, Dandelion & Burdock tastes just as weird as you remember. The Cream Soda was a massive hit.
Along with the drinks they asked me to incorporate it into a recipe. And so Shandy Cobbler was born. When I told my Dad what I was having for dinner, he thought I was on about some sort of pie, but no, cobbler is a type of river fish. And I used Ben Shaw’s Bitter Shandy in the batter for lifting foam and savoury flavour which works really well with the meaty and slightly bland fish. A neat twist on regular batter.
shandy cobbler
Ingredients
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 330 ml Ben Shaw's Bitter Shandy
- 1 egg beaten
- 250 g plain flour
- 2 river cobbler fillets
Instructions
- Get a deep pan ready to deep fry with oil at 180C.
- Put a dish aside with 2 tablespoons of the flour.
- Mix the baking powder, honey, egg and flour. Add enough shandy to make a custardy-batter. Dip the fish in the flour, then in the batter mix.
- Deep fry the fillets for 6 - 8 minutes (depending on thickness) until the batter is a deep golden brown. Serve immediately with chips and peas, and plenty of malt vinegar.
